A Comparison of the Roles of the Hero and the Seductress
in the Tajn Bo Cuajlgne and the .ll.i.wi
An Honors Thesis (HONORS 499)
by
Mark Hayes
Thesis Advisor
Professor Frederick Suppe
~-,
,fo~0><-;;' . ~/;T<-e..
Ball State University
Muncie,
Indiana
April 19, 1994
Graduation
Date
May 7, 1994
/
~
.
Purpose of Thesis
This paper attempts to redefine the role of the "hero" in ancient
Western epic poetry, focusing specifically on the II i ad of Homer and
the Irish epic the Tajn Bo Cuajlgne, by focusing on the maintenance of
a hierarchy of
loyalties.
Similarly, this paper demonstrates the need
to expand the traditional conception of the epic seductress.
Ultimately, the paper concludes with a brief cross-cultural comparison
of ancient Greece and Ireland based on information extracted by
employing the revised definitions suggested in this paper.
-
Acknowledgements
I would to thank Dr. Frederick Suppe (Department of History) for
introducing me to the Tain Bo Cuailgne in his Irish History course
during the Spring Semester of 1992, and for his guidance throughout
the course the the project.
I would also like to thank Dr. Abel Alves
(Department of History), Dr. Edward Kadletz (Department of Modern
Languages and Classics), and Jennifer Lynn Wallace (undergraduate)
for reviewing the paper while it was in progress and for their
comments.
In addition, I would like to thank Dr. Ronald Hicks
(Department of Anthropology) for mailing me a copy of the I..al.o. by
Thomas Kinsella while he was teaching abroad in Great Britain.
Finally, I would like to extend my sincerest appreciation to Sara
Gallagher for working with me to develop my pronunciation of the
Irish proper names which aided me in my presentation of a smaller
version
of this paper at the Twenty-Fourth Annual
Interdisciplinary
Committee for the Advancement of Early Studies (CAES) Conference at
Ball State University on October 15, 1993.
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A Comparison of the Roles of the Hero and the Seductress
In the Tajn Bo Cuailgne and the Iliad
The term "Heroic Age" encapsulates the theory of H.M. Chadwick
which he developed in his book Heroic Age and later in various
chapters of The Growth of Literature.
This theory holds that the
evolution of every society is marked by an early period of domination
by an aristocratic warrior class.
The Heroic Age of a society is
generally credited with the production of long narrative epics that
were designed to be delivered in verse form, usually to the
accompaniment of a stringed instrument, such as the lyre 1 or the
harp2,.
The study of ancient oral epics and the examination of
individual heroes or bands of adventuring warriors has fallen under
heavy criticism, with much of the harshest criticism being deserved.
All ancient epics only reveal a limited amount of factual information
about the culture and time period that produced them.
The true
challenge is to evaluate the information about the epic's parent
society to ascertain how much of the extracted material can be
validated.
Therefore, ancient epic is often a poor substitute for
archeological evidence or literature created outside of an oral
-
.
H.D. Amos and A.G.P. Lang. These Were the Greeks. p. 27.
2 Alwyn Rees and Brinley Rees. Celtic Heritage: Ancient Traditjon in Ireland and Wales.
1
p. 141.
,-
2
tradition
when
attempting to
produce cultural
or
historical
specifics.
However, ancient oral epics should not be ignored when studying an
ancient civilization, because heroic literature provides a broad view
of the general structure and nature of the parent society.
This
information alone makes the study of ancient oral epic vastly
rewarding.
However, beyond providing an over-arching view of the
parent culture's societal institutions in operation, oral epics also lend
a key insight into understanding the abstract notions of the parent
society.
Among the most basic and important of these abstract
notions, or cultural icons, in ancient oral epic are the roles of the hero
and the seductress.
The characters of the hero and the seductress are standard
elements of nearly all epic sagas, and often they are presented within
the context of their individual epics in a strikingly similar manner.
This facilitates the cross-cultural comparison of epics and epic
characters.
Naturally, these cross-cultural comparisons of epics
generally rely most heavily on the
.ll.i.a.d.. of Homer, since it is one of the
the oldest works of oral epic in the Western Tradition, and it is
considered to be the corner stone of Western literature.
In contrast
to the Iliad, the ancient Irish epic the Tain Bo Cuailgne remains
relatively unknown and has often been overlooked.
-
The Tain Bo Cuajlgne has frequently been referred to as simply
-
3
the Tajn. since it is the most common of several Irish tales with titles
beginning with the word "Tain," a Celtic Irish word meaning a "cattle
raid"3.
The lain is part of the Ulster Cycle of tales, which deal
primarHy with the heroes of the Ulaid, a people who lived in Ulster,
the northeastern section of Ireland, and maintained a capital at Emain
Macha 4 •
These warriors have also been referred to collectively as the
Heroes of the Red Branch 5 •
Although various dates are given for the
Tain's authorship, certain parts of the standard text clearly date back
to the eighth century A.D., while some verse passages may be older by
at least two centuries.
However, most Celtic scholars believe that the
Ia.i.n... along with the rest of the Ulster Cycle, has origins that predate
the introduction of Christianity into Ireland in the fifth century A. D.
The traditional time frame given for the events described by the
Ulster Cycle was roughly the birth of Christ and the reign of Caesar
Augustus, but recent scholarship has shown that the culture being
described in the Ulster Cycle could have existed up to the introduction
of
Christianity
into
Ireland 6 •
The text of the Tain is preserved primarily in three medieval
Irish
manuscripts,
The Book of the pun Cow, The yellow Book of Lecan,
and The Book of Lejnster.
3
4
5
8
Unlike the faultless poetry of the Homeric
Patrick Denneen (compiler and editor). An Irish-English Dictionary. p. 1158.
Miles Dillon. Early Irish Literature. p. 1.
Eleanor Hull. The Cuchullin Saga in Irish Literature. p. Iv.
Thomas Kinsella (translator). The Tain. p. 256.
4
epics, the lain came into written
literature as narrative prose with
segments of poetry to accentuate the dramatic speeches of the main
characters.
These poetic passages are often alliterative in nature
with a word order that is archaic or completely artificial.
the style of the Tain and that of the
.l.l.i.wi reflect
However, if
dissimilarities,
structure and the subject matter bear a striking resemblance
the
7
•
In his book, the Heroic Age, Chadwick lists some general
characteristics of Heroic Age literature which certainly apply to both
the Iliad and the Tain.
Both epics concentrate on the aristocratic
caste and their values, which center primarily on courage, prowess in
battle, loyalty, and sincere dedication to personal honor.
profession of choice among the aristocracy in both epics.
War is the
The type of
war fought almost always follows the deeds of individual heroes in
direct combat and is usually devoid of any coherent strategy.
Heroes
are presented in an idealized human form, but they still must suffer
pain, both emotional and physical, and even death.
Ultimately, Heroic
Age literature presents the lives of the aristocratic warrior class in a
setting that readily provides them with the opportunity to be heroics.
The warriors of the
.l.lia1i were afforded the chance to gain honor
and glory when the Achaians of mainland Greece, Thessaly, and some
of the surrounding islands waged war on the city of Troy in Asia Minor
7
JJlli1. p. 257.
8
H.M. Chadwick. Heroic Age.
-
5
and all of that city-state's allies.
The war began when Paris, a young
Trojan prince, while a guest in Sparta of Menelaos, carried off
Menelaos' wife Helen.
Once Paris returned to Troy, with Helen living
with him as his wife, Agamemnon, the older brother of Menelaos,
gathered together the princes of the Achaians and sailed to Troy,
determined to retake Helen, and to avenge the insult to Menelaos'
honor by sacking the citadel of Troy.
Once on Trojan soil, the Achaian
forces managed to keep the Trojans and their allies on the defensive
for nine years.
In that time, the Achaians also plundered many of the
smaller cities and towns surrounding the walled city of Troy.
narrative of the
The
l.lla.d. begins in the tenth year of the siege of Troy, and
focuses on a quarrel between Achilles, the best warrior of the
Achaians, and Agamemnon, who acted as the commander-in-chief of
the Achaian forces at Troy.
As a result of this quarrel, Achilles
withdraws himself and his men from the fighting.
Achilles then has
his mother, the goddess Thetis, persuade Zeus to allow the Trojans to
begin pushing the Achaians back to their ships.
It is during this time
that Hektor, a prince of Troy and the foremost warrior of the Trojans,
begins gaining ascendancy over the battlefield.
Hektor and the Trojan
allies nearly destroy the Achaians when Achilles allows his companion,
Patroklos, to defend the Achaian ships.
-
Once Patroklos enters the
battle, he over-confidently chases the Trojans back to the walls of
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6
Troy, where he is killed by Hektor.
Achilles then reenters the fighting
to avenge Patroklos and kills several Trojans, including Hektor.
The
text of the I I iad ends when Achilles ransoms the body of Hektor to
Priam, Hektor's father and the king of Troy.
Achilles is killed in battle
a short while afterwards, and later in the tenth year Troy falls to the
Achaians with most of the heroes of Troy dead, and the civilian
population is divided up as slaves between the surviving Achaian
heroes, who then sail for home.
Most of the Achaian heroes,
however, either fail to return home safely, or suffer many set backs
in their attempt to re-establish themselves in their kingdoms that
they had left years earlier. 9
The Irish Tain begins
the Greek Iliad.
under
entirely
different
circumstances
than
The story recounted in the Iainactually begins in a
series of tales called remscel/a, that lead up to the opening of the Tain
with the invasion of Ulster by forces gathered by Medb, the queen of
Connacht.
The true beginning of the tale takes place in the bedroom
of Medb and her husband Ailill.
As Medb and Ailill list their
possessions, Medb realizes that she has no bull to equal the
magnificence of a white bull belonging to her husband.
Shortly
thereafter, Medb hears of a brown bull in the Kingdom of Ulster that
is more than the equal to the white bull of her husband.
After a failed
.t
Richmond Lattimore. (translator).
The Iliad of Homer.
p. 12-13 (Introduction).
-
7
attempt to purchase the brown bull from its owner, Medb decides to
take it by force.
With the aid of her husband, Medb musters troops
from every kingdom in Ireland, including a group of exiles from Ulster,
who are lead by Fergus, a former king of Ulster, and begins her
invasion.
Due to a strange curse leveled against the men of Ulster a
few generations earlier which causes them to suffer labor pains at
times of extreme crises, only the warrior Cuchulainn, whose name
means the Hound of Culann, is able to meet the invading forces.
However, Cuchulainn is able to single-handedly inflict heavy loses on
Medb's forces.
After their first few encounters with Cuchulainn,
Medb's husband Ailill asks Fergus "What sort of man is this Hound of
Ulster we hear tell of?"
Fergus responds by telling an account of
Cuchulainn's mac-gnimrada', which translates as "boyhood deeds."l0
For the next several days Cuchulainn killed at least one man during
the day, and at least one hundred each night.
Finally, Medb agrees to
a condition set by Cuchulainn that limited her troops to advancing
only while Cuchulainn was engaged in single combat with one of her
hand picked warriors.
Once that warrior fell, she was under
obligation to stop her advance until another warrior was sent to face
Cuchulainn.
Medb readily agreed to these terms, realizing that it was
better to lose one man each day than to lose a hundred every night.
-
10
Eleanor Knott and Gerard Murphy. Early Irish Literature. p.117.
-
8
After the arrangement has been made, a long series of single
combats
between various warriors and Cuchulainn follows,
Cuchulainn always winning.
with
Meanwhile, Medb is able to lead her
forces into the !heart of Ulster, plundering the countryside and
eventually stealing the great brown bull of Ulster.
When the series of
single combats proves to be too physically taxing for the wounded
and extremely exhausted CuchLilainn, the god Lug, who was generally
considered his father, comes to Cuchulainn and uses herbs to heal his
mortal son over the course of three days and nights.
When Cuchulainn
awakes, he discovers that the young boys of Ulster had come and
fought three battles against the invaders.
Although the young boys
killed three times their own number, they were all slain as a result.
This drives Cuchulainn into a battle madness and he kills a great
number of Medb's warriors.
The climax of the series of single combats soon follows when
Medb manages to seduce Ferdia, Cuchulainn's own foster-brother,
into facing Cuchulainn in single combat.
The battle between these
two great warriors takes three days of bloody fighting to complete
and is one of the most powerful scenes in epic literature.
Ultimately,
Cuchulainn is able to kill Ferdia by using his magical spear, the gae
-
bo/ga
11
•
After this battle, Cuchulainn suffered such massive wounds
" Thomas O'Rahilly. Early Irish History and Mythology. p. 58-75.
-
9
that he was unable to continue to fight until the last battle of the
Tain.
In the meantime, some single champions of Ulster came out to
face the hordes of invaders and while killing an honorable share of
opponents, they all were quickly brought down by Medb's forces.
Eventually, all the men of Ulster recover from their magically
induced illness and come out to repel the invaders.
The battle that
ensues is basically the kingdom of Ulster engaged in a battle with the
rest of Ireland.
At first, the battle seems to be going badly for the
men of Ulster since the invaders almost break their lines three times.
The tide of the battle quickly turns, however, once Cuchulainn is able
to overcome his wounds and retake the field.
Due to a prior
agreement, Fergus is obligated to retreat before Cuchulainn.
Once
Fergus has resigned from the battle, troops from the kingdoms of
Leinster and Munster also withdraw from the fighting.
The only
forces remaining on the field to oppose the Ulstermen were the nine
battalions of warriors from Medb's home kingdom of Connacht.
Cuchulainn and the men of Ulster defeated these battalions by night
fall, and Medb was forced to beg Cuchulainn to spare her life and the
lives of her remaining warriors.
Medb, however,
the great brown bull home to Connacht.
was able to send
Once the bull arrived there, it
and the great white bull belonging to Ailill began fighting, because
they both were actually rival magic entities.
The two bulls raged
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10
throughout Ireland, ripping at each other, all night.
By the next
morning the brown bull of Ulster had killed the white bull of Connacht,
and began making its way back to its homeland in Ulster.
Upon
arriving at the boarder of its home pasture, the great bull fell dead.
The Tain then closes by saying that peace was made between
Connacht and Ulster, with the Connachtmen returning to their own
kingdom and the Ulstermen joining together in triumph at Emain
Macha 12 •
Clearly, there are textual similarities between the
lain.
lli.a.d. and the
In particular, both epics are primarily concerned with the
actions of a specific hero in an unusual and extremely stressful
situation, and, to a lesser extent, with the warriors and warfare in
general.
In an attempt to increase the understanding of such heroic
epics, many definitions of the term "hero" have been presented.
Several scholars have attempted to define the epic hero by citing a
list of characteristics which tends to be designed for, and more
applicable to, standard mythological heroes. These definitions
of "hero" have worked their way into standard usage, and are even
found in dictionaries with definitions such as "a mythological or
legendary figure endowed with great strength, courage, or ability,
favored by the gods, and often believed to be of divine or partly
-
12Thomas Kinsella (translator). The Tajn. p. 52-253.
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11
divine
descent.,,13 While this definition certainly applies to both
Achilles of the Achaians and Cuchulainn of the Ulaid, it nevertheless
remains merely a list of physical characteristics and potential
genealogies.
A better definition of an epic hero must avoid the
temptation to define a hero in terms of a list of attributes and origins,
and seek to reveal the true essence of what it means to be "heroic."
A definition that adequately suits this criteron is that an epic
hero consistently maintains his or her principle and defining loyalties.
Accordingly, epic heroes are often depicted as ultimately suffering
because of their inflexibility or because two or more of their loyalties
come into conflict.
This also provides an explanation for why so many
epic heroes eventually fall from ascendancy, being similar in nature to
the heroes of the tragic plays of Sophocles, who were often formerly
great men or women who have suffered an inescapable faW4.
However, this definition would still allow for the occasional
triumphant hero to succeed.
For instance, if the principle and defining
loyalty of Odysseus in the Odyssey of Homer is perceived to be the
procurement of a safe arrival home, then Odysseus is free to warp or
ignore any of his society's notions of what it is to be "heroic" and still
be a legitimate epic hero, regardless of the fact that neither of his
13 Philip Babcock Gove (editor-in-chief).
Webster's Third New International Dictionary of
the English Language Unabrjdged. p. 1060.
14 E.F. Watling. Sophocles; Electra and Other Plays.
(introduction). p. 8.
-
12
parents were divine or that he was in as much disfavor with Poseidon
as he was in the favor of Athena.
In more recent and perhaps more
radical example, Satan, in John Milton's Paradise
Lost. can readily be
defined as an epic hero if one considers that Satan maintains his
loyalty to perpetually rage against God and spread evil among God's
creations.
It is important to note that in order to make this definition of
epic hero function, the exact principle and defining loyalties of the
hero must be made clear.
For several heroes in the l.li.a.d. and the Tain,
the primary loyalty is to the maintenance of personal honor.
Achilles'
famous withdrawal from the war in Book I of the l.li.a.d. demonstrates
that he places a higher value on his honor than on the lives of his
fellow Achaians.
This point is stated expressly by Achilles before the
council of the Achaians in these lines from Book I of the
!..!la.d..:
And this shall be a great oath before you:/
some day longing for Achilles will come the sons
of the Achaians,/
all of them.
Then stricken at heart though you be,
you will be able/
to do nothing, when in their numbers before
-
man-slaughtering
Hektor/
13
they drop and die.
.heart
within
And then you will eat out the
youl
in sorrow, that you did not honour to the best of
of the Achaians.
(lines 239-244)15
Achilles does not exempt any of his comrades from his curse; in
fact, Homer uses the Greek word "sympantas", which translates as
"all together, or all in a body,,16 in line 241 to emphasize this fact.
When Patroklos is killed by Hektor after trying to save the other
Achaians from certain death by begging Achilles to lend him his armor
and to allow him to drive the Trojans back from the Achaian ships,
Achilles is partially responsible because it is his curse that is being
fulfilled.
In a later episode in the.L.l.i.ru!, Hektor demonstrates that he
values personal honor over the lives of his family and friends as well.
As Hektor stands before the walls of Troy about to face the enraged
Achilles, both his mother and father beg him to come inside the walls
of the city and ward off Achilles in relative safety.
Hektor, however,
is resolved to face Achilles, knowing that it may mean his death and
the destruction of his family and city, rather than suffer dishonor.
Hektor, thinking to himself in lines 108 through 110 in Book XXII,
-
15
16
Richmond Lattimore (translator). The Iliad of Homer. p. 65.
Henry George Liddell and Robert Scott (compilers). A English-Greek Lexicon. p. 1462.
-
14
states:
... and as for me, it would be much betterl
at that time, to go against Achilles, and slay him,
and come back,!
or else be killed by him in glory in front of the city.
Hektor can not divorce himself from the heroic code of honor that
demands that he meet Achilles on the battlefield in single combat to
the death, regardless of the devastating consequences.
Hektor
decides that an honorable death would be more acceptable than to
,-
commit the shameful act of protecting his city safely behind its
walls. 17 Obviously, among many of the heroes in the Iliad,
the
obligation to the maintenance of personal honor is held before all
other
loyalties.
Most of the heroes of the·
I.ai.n. also hold personal honor and glory
to be the defining essence of a hero.
The need to protect personal
honor for the heroes of the Ulaid is so fundamental that they are
willing to abandon practically all other social institutions for it.
In
one instance, the hero Cuchulainn was about to be married to the
beautiful Emer when someone mentioned that "this woman he has
-
brought here will have to sleep tonight with Conchobor -the first
17
James Hogan. A Gujde to the
Iliad. p. 273-274.
-
15
forcing of girls in Ulster is always his.tl18 The fact that his bride must
first sleep in the king's bed before coming to his own drove young
Cuchulainn into such a fury that the cushion beneath him burst up and
feathers flew about wildly.
The other Ulster warriors quickly realized
that the king could not accept the dishonor of not enforcing his own
edicts and that Cuchulainn would destroy any man who dishonored
him by having sex with his wife.
A compromise is reached when the
men of Ulster decide that Emer should sleep in Conchobor's bed that
night but with two men in between the two of them to "protect
Cuchulainn's
-
honour." 19 This story reflects the ability of the heroes to
make compromises when faced with conflicting loyalties; in this
instance the conflict is between loyalty to Ulster in the form of its
king and its laws and loyalty to protecting one's personal honor.
The
story also shows that while a compromise was agreed upon, both
Cuchulainn and Conchobor were willing to risk their lives and their
friendships among the men of Ulster to preserve their honor.
The Exile of the Sons of Uisliu, one of the remscella, or foretales,
of the Tain, however, presents a situation where a compromise
between loyalties could not be made.
The tragic story concludes with
Conchobor betraying a trust and having a band of warriors led by the
sons of Uisliu treacherously killed while under the direct protection of
-
18 Thomas Kinsella (translator). The Tajn. p. 38.
19 lbid..
p. 39.
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16
Fergus and Conchobor's own son, Cormac.
As a result of Conchobor's
deceit, Fergus and Cormac, along with some other heroes of Ulster,
had to avenge the wrongful deaths of the sons of Uisliu in order to
protect their own honor.
Fergus and Cormac were driven to kill many
men and to burn the capital at Emain Macha, as a result of
Conchobor's deceit.
Once they had turned against Conchobor and the
rest of Ulster, Fergus and Cormac, along with three thousand other
men from Ulster, were
forced to seek refuge in the land of Connacht and later fought against
Cuchulainn and Ulster during the course of the
I.a.i.n20 • This story leaves
no doubt as to what is most important to them and where their
deepest loyalties lie.
Fergus leaves behind the land he loves and
Cormac turns against his own father, destroying his chances for royal
succession, because they feel that their honor has been insulted by
Conchobor.
Although maintenance and expansion of their own honor is the
primary loyalty for most of the heroes in both the II iad and the
~
there are secondary loyalties for different heroes in each epic.
The
most common secondary loyalty for the heroes in the
to family and close friends.
JJ..i.a.d. tends to be
Loyalty to the memory of Patroklos and
the guilt he feels for Patroklos' death is responsible for the incredible
20
lllld.. p. 14-15.
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17
change that comes over Achilles in the later books of the II jad.
Achilles, who has begun to realize the flaws and futility of the heroic
code, no longer cares for his curse, Agamemnon, or his own honor.
More than ever before, he has become alienated from the other
Achaians.
The fact that he makes it a paint to senselessly sacrifice
twelve Trojan nobles on the funeral pyre with the body of Patroklos21
shows that Achilles is only concerned with revenge and death.
Achilles' abandonment of honor as his primary loyalty is
reflected in several different passages, but one of the most powerful
in the .L.L.i.a..d. occurs once Achilles reenters the fighting to take revenge
for the death of Patroklos in Book XXI.
Achilles comes upon a young
Trojan prince whom he had captured twelve days earlier and sold into
slavery.
The young prince had managed to return to Troy through a
series of fortunate circumstances but had the misfortune of meeting
Achilles for the second time.
The young prince takes Achilles
by the knees and pitifully begs for his life again, but this time,
however, Achilles is not persuaded to grant mercy.
Achilles levies his
verdict with these cold words:
Poor fool, no longer speak to me of ransom,
nor argue it.!
21
Richmond Lattimore (translator). The Iliad of Homer. p. 455.
18
In the time before Patroklos came to the day
of his destiny!
then it was the way of my heart's choice to
be
sparing!
of the Trojans, and many I took alive and
disposed of them.
Now there is one who can escape death, if the
gods
send!
him against my hands in front of Ilion, not one!
of all the Trojans and beyond others the children
-
of Priam.
{lines 99-104)22
Another scene in the .L.li..ad. which
demonstrates a hero's
loyalty
to his family occurs in Book VI in an exchange between Hektor, his
wife Andromache, and their infant son.
Hektor has come inside the
walls of Troy during a decisive battle to ask the Trojan women to pray
and honor the goddess Athena so that she might grant the Trojans
victory over the Achaians.
Once inside the city he goes to his house to
see Andromache before returning to the fighting.
Hektor finds her on
the walls of Troy searching the battlefield for a sign that he is still
alive and well.
-
22lllli1. p.
After she and Hektor speak in one of the most
420-421.
-
19
endearing scenes in all of Western literature, Hektor reaches for his
baby son, who screams and shrinks back against his mother's breast
fearing his father's bloody bronze armor and the shining helmet with
it's long horse-hair crest.
Both Hektor and Andromache laugh as he
takes off the helmet, and then takes his son in his arms.
Hektor then
cuddles and kisses him before praying to the gods with these words:
Zeus, and you other immortals grant that this boy,
who is my son,!
may be as I am, pre-eminent among the Trojans,
great in strength, as am I, and rule strongly over
Ilion;!
and some day let them say of him: "He is far better
than
his
father,"!
as he comes in from the fighting; and let him kill
his
enemy!
and bring home the blooded spoils, and delight the
heart of his mother.
-
(lines 476-481 )23
With this prayer, Hektor reveals that he honestly hopes his son will
23.l12k1. p. 165-166.
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20
surpass him in deeds and in honor, and while this sentiment may not
have been such an incredible admission for the heroes of the
lJ..i.a.d.., it
would be almost unheard of in the Tain.
In the story of the sons of Uisliu from the lain, Cormac took up
arms against his own people to avenge his father's insult to Cormac's
personal honor,
but in the story entitled "The Death of Aife's One
Son," the struggle between father and son over a matter of honor is
brought to a tragic crescendo.
Cuchulainn had fathered a son named
Connla by the warrior-queen Aife and left the instructions that she
was to send Connla to him when the child reached seven years of age.
He also told her to tell Connla that he must not reveal his name to
anyone, and that he should not make way for any man, nor refuse any
man in combat.
Seven years afterwards, Connla came to Ulster
looking for his father.
As his boat landed on Ulster soil, the Ulster
warriors sent one of their number down to meet him to ask him his
name and what business he had in Ulster.
True to the instructions
given to him, the boy refused to give any information about himself
and proceeded to march up the beach saying that he would not give
way to a hundred Ulster warriors.
A second hero of Ulster was sent to
stop the boy and make him pay for the insult to Ulster.
The young
boy, however, had much of his father's skill in battle and so he quickly
defeated the second warrior and tied him up with his own
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21
sh ield-strap.
Finally, Cuchulainn, himself, came down and fought with
his own son because Connla had insulted Ulster, even though he was
merely following the instructions given to him by Cuchulainn.
However, rationality is no match for the incredible fury of Cuchulainn,
who advances on his son saying:
... the blood of Connla's!
body will
flush!
my skin with power!
little spear so fine!
,-
to be finely sucked
by my own spears!24
Obviously, Cuchulainn, and the heroes of the Tain in general, do not
appear to have the close sentimental attachments to their family as
Hektor and some of the other heroes in the.L.li.a.d..
Hektor cuddles and
kisses his baby son, while Cuchulainn stabs his seven year old son
with a magic spear so that it "brought his bowels down around his
feet. ,,25 The primary reason that Cuchulainn seems so heartless
towards his son is that Cuchulainn's loyalty to Ulster takes
precedence over any loyalty he feels towards his son.
Thomas Kinsella (translator). The Tajn. p. 43-44.
25 1b.i.d.. p. 44.
24
Cuchulainn was
-
22
ready to destroy Conchobor, the king and therefore the embodiment
of Ulster, rather than allow Conchobor to dishonor him by sleeping
with his wife; and, in turn, Cuchulainn is more than willing to destroy
his only son in an attempt to avenge an insult to Ulster.
One reason why Cuchulainn places such an emphasis on the
honor of Ulster is because he can not divorce himself from Ulster.
Although Cuchulainn's commitment to personal honor still overrides
his dedication to Ulster, he never completely isolates his own identity
from the abstract entity that is Ulster, which includes the warriors,
the soil, the culture, and the almost spiritual aspect of Ulster.
This
helps to explain why Cuchulainn does not feel alienated while he is
camped all alone in the middle of a wilderness, single-handedly
holding back the huge force of invaders lead by Medb.
On the other
hand, Achilles feels completely isolated and alone at Troy after his
quarrel with Agamemnon, even though his ship and tent are part of
one of the largest collective forces of the Achaian people ever.
This
sense of alienation further increases after the death of Patroklos
until funeral games held in the fallen warrior's honor26.
If the definition of epic hero is taken as meaning a character in
an epic who maintains his principle and defining loyalties, as opposed
to the current popular definition, which is based on a collection of
-
2e
James Hogan. A Gujde to the Iliad. p. 243.
-
23
attributes,
additional analysis of the primary and
secondary
loyalties
each of the major heroes in both the Iliad and the Tain could be
compiled in order to provide a deeper understanding of each
character, as well as each epic as a whole.
Once a particular
hero's loyalties have been charted, his or her motivation and internal
workings in each scene should be rendered more apparent.
However,
certain characters in both the Iliad and the I..ai.n can not be defined as
epic heroes since they do not maintain their primary loyalties.
In the
ill.sui. for instance, Agamemnon never formulates a defining loyalty
since he takes Achilles' war prize in Book I to maintain his personal
-
honor 27 , but later, in Book IX, he offers to give the prize back along
with several other prizes from his own collection in an attempt to
bribe Achilles to rejoin the fighting2B.
Clearly, Agamemnon does not
maintain a primary loyalty, and therefore could not be considered a
true hero of the epic, but instead he is merely a major character
within the narrative of the poem.
Similarly, in the I..ai.n, Ferdia, the
foster-brother of· Cuchulainn, can not be considered an epic hero.
When Medb first summons Ferdia to her tent, he knows that it would
not be honorable to fight Cuchulainn since they were sworn fosterbrothers.
However, he allows himself to be seduced by Medb and
agrees to fight Cuchulainn.
-
Ferdia, whose primary loyalty should be
Richmond Lattimore (translator). The Iliad of Homer.
28 l12id..
p. 201-206.
27
p. 67-68.
-
24
to personal honor, finds himself in a hopeless situation once he has
said he would meet Cuchulainn in battle, since it would be just as
dishonorable to attack his foster-brother and
break his warrior's
bond and oath of brotherhood as it would be to break his oath to
Medb to fight Cuchulainn 29 •
Thus, while Ferdia is certainly a tragic
figure in the Tain, he dies not as a true hero but as one who has fallen
from the path of the true epic hero.
Ferdia's tragic loss of his status as a hero comes as a result of
Medb's words and actions as a classic epic seductress,
persuades
"into
disobedience,
disloyalty,
or
a woman who
desertion."30 An epic
seductress then is a woman who draws epic warriors away from their
primary loyalties.
Most would agree that, in the story of the Trojan
War, Helen acts as a seductress when her beauty entices Paris to defy
the rules of the guest-host relationship and causes him to
dishonorably steal her off to Troy.
Likewise, in the Tain, Medb acts as
the epitome of the seductress when trying to get Ferdia to fight
against Cuchulainn by saying she would give Ferdia the following
things:
... a chariot worth three times seven bondmaids,
-.
Thomas Kinsella (translator). The Tain. p. 168-170.
30 Philip Babcock Gove (editor-in-chief).
Webster's Third New International Dictionary Qf
the English Language Unabridged. p. 2054.
:IV
-
25
with warharness enough for a dozen men, and a
portion of the fine Plain of Ai equal to the Plain
of Murtheimne.
Also the right to stay in Cruachan,
with your wine supplied, and your kith and kin free
forever from tax and tribute.
And this leaf-shaped
brooch of mine that was made out of ten score
ounces and ten score quarters of gold.
And
Finnabair, my daughter and Ailill's, for your
wife.
And my own friendly thighs on top of
that if needs be. 31
Medb does not stop at bribery, but also lies to Ferdia telling him that
Cuchulainn has previously insulted him, and Ferdia eventually
succumbs to Medb's will.
In this instance, Medb demonstrates that
the role of the seductress is not limited to sexual enticement,
although she maintains that as part of her role, but the true
seductress is free to use any tactic or means necessary, including
bribery and lying, to get her victim to fall into disloyalty32.
Although there are several instances of the classic and often
stereotypical seductress in epic literature, there is another category
of seductresses in epic that differs primarily from their more
--
Thomas Kinsella (translator). The Tain. p. 169.
32 Moyra Caldecott. Women in Celtic Mythology.
p. 167-168.
31
-
26
traditional counterparts in that they often fail in their attempt to
seduce.
good-wife.
This category contains the idea of the seductress as the
Often in epic the wife of a hero tries to seduce her
husband from what he considers his primary loyalty.
The good-wife's
reason for the seduction tends to be noble, caring, and rational.
instance, in the
For
.lli.w1, when Hektor meets his wife Andromache on the
walls of Troy in Book VI, she begs him to fight off the Achaians from
inside the walls where it would be much safer.
Through her tears, she
pleads with Hektor to do her bidding and not to leave their son an
orphan and herself a widow.
Hektor is deeply moved and tells her
that he worries more about her future after his death than he does
for the safety of his own parents or the preservation of the city, but
he maintains his primary loyalty to personal honor.
He tells her that
he would be shamed before his people and that his spirit drives him to
fight as a hero on the battlefield 33 •
While Andromache does attempt
to seduce Hektor from his duty, she certainly holds no malice or deceit
in her heart for him, but rather is deeply concerned about the welfare
and well-being of her young husband.
Andromache, then, succeeds in
being a good-wife to Hektor, in part because she attempts, but fails,
to persuade Hektor to give up his loyalty to his honor.
In the Tain. Emer, Cuchulainn's wife,
33
also proves herself to be a
Richmond Lattimore (translator). The Iliad of Homer. p. 163-165.
-
27
good-wife through a well-intended but failed attempt at seduction.
In the story of "The Death of Aife's One Son," when Cuchulainn was
storming down the beach to destroy his son Connla for insulting
Ulster, Emer tries to stop him.
She quickly recognizes Cuchulainn's
own son, even though he had been born to another woman, and places
her arm around her husband's neck and tries to restrain him with
these
words:
Don't go down!!
It is your own son there/
don't murder your son/
the wild and well born/
son let him bel
is it good or wise/
for you to fall/
on your marvellous son/
of the mighty acts/ ...
if Connla has dared us/
he has justified it.!
Turn back, hear me!!
My restraint is
-
reason/
-
28
Cuchulainn
hear itl ... 34
Cuchulainn, however, is not persuaded.
Unlike Hektor who was gentle
and sympathetic with Andromache, Cuchulainn responses to his wife's
plea for restraint and mercy by answering her harshly with these
words:
Be quiet, wife.!
It isn't a woman/
that I need now/
to hold me back/
in the face of these feats
and
shining
triumph/
I want no woman's /
help with
victorious
my work/
deeds/
are what we need/
to fill the eyes/ ... 35
Cuchulainn ends his response to Emer by clearly stating, "No matter
34
Thomas Kinsella (translator). The Tajn. p. 42-43.
35
lllld.. p. 43.
-
29
who he is, wife, I must kill him for the honour of Ulster.,,36 Emer
realizes that her husband is resolved to meet his own son in combat
because he must not allow Ulster to be insulted, and so she remains
silent while Cuchulainn first tries to drown his son and then finally
eviscerates him.
Although Emer may initially seem too passive, it is important to
emphasize her noble qualities, which make her a good wife by the
standards of epic literature.
Cuchulainn first came to court Emer as
she sat on the lawn in front of her father's fort with several other
young women working at embroidery.
He began speaking to her in
riddles to test her wit, but Emer had no trouble discovering
Cuchulainn's hidden meaning and answering with a few riddles of her
own 37 .
Cuchulainn, while staring at Emer's breasts over the top of her
dress, said "I see a sweet country, I could rest my weapon there."38
Emer replied by saying no man would travel in that country until he
had managed to complete several nearly impossible feats of strength
and warrior's skill.
Ultimately, Cuchulainn has to go off to a magic
island to get additional training before he can complete the tasks that
Emer has set before him.
Before Cuchulainn leaves, however, he
and Emer took a vow of faithfulness to each other until he returned or
36.l.bk1. p. 44.
37
Moyra Caldecott. Women in Celtic Mythology. p. 95-98.
36 Thomas Kinsella (translator). The Tain. p. 27.
.-
30
until one of them died.
It is interesting to note that Emer protected
her own interests by adding that the vow would be invalidated upon
either one of their deaths, since Cuchulainn was setting out on a
dangerous journey while she remained in relative safety.
Emer is
presented as being an excellent wife for an epic hero in Cuchulainn's
courtship of her, because she encourages and expects him to act
heroically.
Although Emer occasionally attempts to get Cuchulainn to
act in a manner that he considers contrary to his primary and
secondary loyalties, she always speaks with concern, often acting as
the voice of moderation in the mist of over-inflated male egos.
Emer
also aids Cuchulainn in his quest to preserve and increase his status
among the men of Ulster. She would not take Cuchulainn as her
husband until he had received all the training he would need to
become the greatest hero in Ireland.
It could easily be said that
Cuchulainn could not have reached the pinnacle of fame and skill
without Emer's wit,
reason,
and encouragement.
Oral epic literature, including the Iliad and the Tain, is able to
provide a key inSight into each work's parent culture through the
creation of the roles of the hero, seductress, and good wife.
Although there are several examples in the !!.l.aQ. and the Tain of
females who definitely act heroically, as well as males who seduce, it
is necessary to maintain a general focus on the male hero and the
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31
female seductress in order to clearly establish the relationship and
the fundamental
differences between the traditional
definitions of the terms "hero" and "seductress."
and
the
revised
In the revised
definitions, these roles can be understood in terms of their
interactions with each other.
The true epic hero will consistently
maintain his primary loyalty regardless of the words and actions of
other heroes, seductresses, or even his own spouse.
The true
seductress in epic succeeds at seducing a hero from his loyalties and
bending that person to his or her will, thereby destroying the hero's
status as a hero.
A good wife often attempts to seduce her spouse,
but never maliciously and always with his best interest at heart.
The
seductress acting as a good wife also tends to fail to dissuade her
husband from his chosen course.
These revised definitions not only enrich the understanding of
the epic characters themselves and the epic as a whole, but they also
have the ability to effect a deeper understanding of the value system
of the parent culture.
By examining the evidence as it was presented
throughout the various quotations, some logical inferences can be
made about the worldview of the people who originally constructed
and circulated the epics.
While personal honor is the primary loyalty for many of the
heroes of both the
l.li.a..d.. and the Iain., there seems to be a difference
32
between the two groups of heroes concerning their secondary
loyalties.
The heroes of the II i ad tend to maintain a secondary loyalty
to their families and close friends, while the Ulaid uphold the kingdom
of Ulster as their secondary loyalty.
These differences in secondary
loyalty reflect the fact that the Greek heroes of the
!.!l.a..d.. are
presented as being only loosely allied with each other under the
unsteady
leadership
of Agamemnon,
with
each
aristocratic warrior
maintaining his strongest political ties to his own predominantly
autonomous kingdom.
In the Irish tradition, however, all the
members of the Ulaid conceptualize themselves as being part of the
same single kingdom throughout the course of the Tain.
The way each
society is politically and socially organized within each epic aids in
granting a deeper insight into the methods of social organization
practiced by each of the epics' parent cultures.
The role of the seductress also exhibits a dimorphism between
the II i ad and the Iain.
Helen, the Greek seductress, relies exclusively
on her sexuality to seduce the warriors from their individual loyalties,
and is thereby limited in the type of interaction and control that she
may have with the other characters in the epic.
In the Iain,
however,
Medb is not only a seductress without limitations on her means to
seduce, she also dresses in armor, leads men into battle, and openly
-
engages male warriors in battle.
Similarly, in the Iliad. Andromache's
-
33
character is largely centered on her dependence on Hektor, while
Emer's character in the
I..aln is far more complex.
Even though she is
only depicted in regards to her relationship with Cuchulainn, she is
never depicted as being solely dependent upon him for support and is
far more quick to challenge his position within their relationship than
Andromache, who seems complacent by comparison.
By examining
the roles of these four women within the context of their respective
epics, it would seem clear that aristocratic women generally held a
higher status in ancient Irish society and claimed more social and
political
freedoms
than
their
Greek counterparts.
The study and analysis of ancient epic is nearly as old as the art
of epic poetry itself.
This long tradition of scholarship has been, and
still needs to be, perpetually examined and revised.
In the modern
world the terms "hero," "heroine," "seducer," and "seductress"
have
a hallow, archaic sound, and the abstract notions incorporated into
each of these roles are largely viewed as being irrelevant.
These
roles, however, are part of the Western World's intellectual birth and
remain at the primal heart of everyone.
-
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